THE DISMANTLING OF MODEL METROPOLITAN SCHOOL DESEGREGATION PLAN: CHOICE, POLITICS, LAW, DEMOGRAPHICS AND LEADERSHIP

Here are additional lecture notes on a school desegregation plan (research project) that was presented by my advisor and a colleague. After the notes, I have presented some further research questions and began a rough draft reaction paper.

SUAPP Seminar Series
Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Jeffrey A. Raffel & Joseph A. Pika

THE DISMANTLING OF MODEL METROPOLITAN SCHOOL DESEGREGATION PLAN: CHOICE, POLITICS, LAW, DEMOGRAPHICS AND LEADERSHIP

Gary Orfield – Desmantling Desegregation, the expert on school desegregation
Claimed that Wilmington are one of the nations three most integrated areas… named a successful attempt, a model

History of School Desegregation in the Wilmington Metropolitan (see the slide)

Delaware was one of the cases in the Brown V. Board case

• Evans V. Buchanan – the schools weren’t desegregated in 1956, case reopened in 1971

Educational Advancement Act (1968)

In 1974, US district courts decided that Wilmington schools were still segregated, meanwhile in in Detroit (Milliken v. Bradley) they decided busing was too much (?)

In 1975 the district court said that DE must design a metropolitan plan

“9-3” school desegregation Plan

1993: DE requests unitary status, as opposed to dual segregated districts

Neighborhood Schools Act (2000)
Pie approach to school desegregation implemented in 9/1978

Charter schools – consumer model of education
Common school vers. The corporate state (consumer choice)
Options or Refuges

NEIGHBORHOOD SCHOOLS ACT 2000 (Wayne Smith, R)
Every student must attend the grade appropriate school closest to the student’s residence without regard to any consideration other than geographic distance and the natural boundaries of neighborhoods.
Based on the premise that you have achieved a high level of desegregation
Mandated school configurations (K-5/6, 6/7-8. 9-12)
Loopholes: if a district demonstrated hardship it would allow for an alternative of
Politics of Plan – Wayne Smith, Gov. Tom Carper (DE)
Wilmington Neighborhood Schools Committee – the city was deadlocked, rejected the option of becoming a separate district

Brandywine – community, civic engagement, high poverty schools a hardship on the students
Red Clay –
Colonial –
Christina –

Conclusions
Difficulty of maintaining desegregated schools in current environment
Unique situation
Leadership made a difference but national forces are strong


QUESTIONS
Who came up with the “9-3” plan? Why was it the chosen alternative?
What was the argument against unitary status?
Who advocated charter schools? (albert__________)
What is Busing v. Desegregation?


I wrote the following paper (VERY ROUGH DRAFT) after attending the lecture:

REACTION PAPER

SUAPP Seminar Series
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Jeffrey A. Raffel & Joseph A. Pika

THE DISMANTLING OF MODEL METROPOLITAN SCHOOL DESEGREGATION PLAN: CHOICE, POLITICS, LAW, DEMOGRAPHICS AND LEADERSHIP

Dr. Pika and Dr. Raffel presented students, staff, and faculty with information concerning their current research on school desegregation. The research focuses on Delaware, which was apparently considered a model plan and implementation of school desegregation. The research presumes Greg Orfield the expert on school desegregation. Orfield wrote with Susan Eaton a book entitled, “Dismantling Desegregation: The Quiet Reversal of Brown v. Board of Education” (1996). The book is a refutation of school desegregation despite the court rulings in Board of Education of Oklahoma City v. Dowell , Freeman v. Pitts and Missouri v. Jenkins. The Orfield’s claim is that the data available on desegregated schools evens out the playing field for black and white students.

There are issues with the ideal and reality of desegregation in the public school system. Brown v. Board was not the first legal challenge to school segregation. Roberts v. City of Boston stated, “Resolved, that in the opinion of this board, the continuance of the separate schools for colored children, and the regular attendance of all such children upon the schools, is not only legal and just, but is best adapted to promote the education of that class of population .” That statement by itself creates an argument of how class and race were construed to reflect the same ideology using different descriptive statistics, race and socio-economic status.

The argument of Brown v. Board surrounded Linda Brown and her family. Her father, Oliver Brown did not want her to walk one mile through a switchyard to get to her black elementary school. (There were actually over 200 plaintiffs.) Mr. Brown had attempted to enroll her in the white school, but she was not permitted because Topeka, Kansas was legally separated under the premise deliver on the Plessy v. Ferguson decision. This was one example of many, there were over 200 plaintiffs in this case, and it included cases from Delaware, Washington, DC, Virginia, and South Carolina. The argument was that the separate schools were not ‘equal’ and would not be equal. In the opinion written by Chief Justice Warren, the ultimate question is presented, Does segregation of children in public schools solely on the basis of race, even though the physical facilities and other “tangible” factors may be equal, deprive the children of the minority group of equal educational opportunities?” Chief Justice Warrren stated that the court believes it does. It was not concluded that the general practice of “separate but equal” should be overturned, but that in the realm of public education, it had no place.

Sounds good, however, these new cases claiming that desegregation did not work, has allowed the segregation of public schools to reoccur. The real reason is that the federal courts wanted to return the realm of public school education back to the states in hope that by the year 2000 the federal court would stop attempting to enforce desegregation.
The research presented by Dr. Pika and Dr. Raffel assumes that desegregation was a goal of public education and should continue to be at the forefront of political education concerns. The study attempts to understand what happened in the state of Delaware since Orfield’s claim that Wilmington and Delaware were some of the best examples of integration in metropolitan areas. The presentation continued with a history of school segregation including a timeline of Supreme Court cases, proposed plans, and implementation dates. The research looks at changes in political and economic environments in the state, including the election of governors as a determinant of successful desegregation practices in the state of Delaware.

My personal opinions on this topic cannot be summarized in a two page reaction paper, but I will attempt to better understand the situation at hand. Education is a curious topic when considering its impact on society. Education is the one sector of society of which every individual has a stake in its success or failure. One, could argue that health has the same type of impact on society, but as we already know people have been living and dying with all types of undiagnosed diseases and illnesses and have continued to be successfully engaging members of society. Everyone in the history of human civilization has been some form of education system. Whether it is post-doctoral research at a prestigious university or home training by a family member, every human being interacts with a system of education. Apparently, in the rise of the global economy, it has been the goal of countries to raise their overall academic average to stake the claim of intellectual superiority over one another. In order for this surge of academic excellence to occur, the society as a whole has to agree on educational attainment and educational opportunity.

It seems, that the underlying problem of segregated education was not necessarily the fact that anyone was missing out on receiving a “quality” education. If a survey was taken of blacks who attended segregated schools all over the country during the 1920s to 1950s (till the 70s in some cases), I am sure that one would be exposed to the fact that many of these student not only learned more than enough despite their educational circumstances but succeeded in terms of American economic or social “success.” These individuals became teachers, lawyers, doctors and other types of professionals. Since that is true, the problem of education was not the need to sit next to a “nigger” to know everything about the world or even sit next to “whitey” to see how the “real” world works. (my apologies for the “quotations” but the whole American society is based upon “ideals” instead of actualities….)